JP2008279983A - Vehicle controller - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a vehicle controller exhibiting excellent versatility when a plurality of applications are installed. <P>SOLUTION: Target selection processing is carried out in a step 210. Dangerous article determination processing is carried out in a step 220. In a step 230, it is determined whether driver operation acceleration (received from an acceleration/deceleration ECU 3) relating to braking is lower than a predetermined determination value α or not, that is, whether braking is insufficient or not. When braking is not sufficient, advance to a step 240 is carried out, and an execution request flag of brake assist control is turned on. A value found by multiplying the driver operation acceleration by a predetermined value β is set to a target acceleration. When braking is sufficient, advance to a step 250 is carried out, and the execution request flag of brake assist control is turned off, and the target acceleration is set to be zero. In a step 260, the execution request flag, the target acceleration, Max Jerk, and Min Jerk are transmitted to the acceleration ECU 3. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a vehicle control device that controls a vehicle using, for example, a plurality of driving support applications.

  Conventionally, for driving support applications that control driving support when driving a vehicle, for example, an inter-vehicle distance control device (adaptive cruise control (ACC)) outputs an inter-vehicle distance that outputs a control value necessary for inter-vehicle distance control. A control unit and an acceleration / deceleration control unit that outputs a command value for driving the actuator in accordance with the control value are used. As interface information between the inter-vehicle distance control unit and the acceleration / deceleration control unit, acceleration (required acceleration) is used. Is generally used (see Patent Document 1).

Further, in the control device (brake assist device) that controls to secure the braking force according to the front situation detected by the radar and the brake operation amount of the driver, as the interface information between the danger determination unit and the deceleration control unit, A technique using a determination result (flag) or the like is known (see Patent Document 2).
Assuming that multiple such driving support applications will be installed in the future, the control instruction unit (distance control unit, risk determination unit, etc.) and the acceleration / deceleration control unit (deceleration control unit, etc.) will be separated and independent. It is desirable that each application be arbitrated in the control instruction unit. And as the interface information at that time, it is considered that the acceleration used in the inter-vehicle distance control device is appropriate.
Japanese Patent No. 2911368 JP 11-049552 A

  However, when the control instruction unit and the acceleration / deceleration control unit are separated from each other in this way, for example, when performing brake assist, the control instruction unit performs an acceleration / deceleration operation of the driver from each sensor or the like via a communication line or the like. It is necessary to input the state, calculate the control value (required acceleration) based on the vehicle specifications and the like, and output it to the actuator or the like.

That is, when there are a plurality of driving support applications, it is problematic in terms of versatility to output a control value in consideration of vehicle specifications and the like in each application.
The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle control device having excellent versatility when a plurality of applications are provided.

  (1) The invention of claim 1 is a control command unit (for example, a driving support ECU) that calculates an acceleration / deceleration behavior to be taken by the host vehicle as a command value in the traveling environment of the vehicle, and a command from the control command value. An acceleration / deceleration control unit (for example, an acceleration / deceleration ECU) that performs processing for controlling the vehicle by using an acceleration / deceleration actuator in consideration of characteristics inherent to the vehicle based on the value, and the acceleration / deceleration control The unit transmits acceleration operation information generated by a driver's operation to the control command unit.

  In the present invention, the acceleration command information is transmitted from the acceleration / deceleration control unit (which performs calculation in consideration of vehicle specifications and the like) to the control command unit. Therefore, the control command unit uses a plurality of applications for control. Even if it is, it is excellent in versatility.

  In other words, according to the present invention, the control command unit calculates a control value (for example, requested acceleration) by performing processing based on the application based on the acceleration operation information transmitted from the acceleration / deceleration control unit, and receives the control value. The deceleration control unit can perform control processing (for example, output of a target torque or a command value for a brake request) using an acceleration / deceleration actuator in consideration of vehicle specifications and the like.

  Therefore, even when the number of applications increases, the acceleration / deceleration control unit can perform calculations based on the vehicle specifications in a batch according to the control value such as the required acceleration. There is an advantage of being.

  (2) In the invention of claim 2, the acceleration / deceleration control unit determines whether or not the acceleration operation information can be transmitted, and transmits the acceleration operation information to the control command unit according to the determination result. And

In the present invention, necessary information (for example, driver operation acceleration and various flags) can be transmitted to the control command unit based on the determination result in the acceleration / deceleration control unit.
(3) In the invention of claim 3, when transmitting the driver's acceleration operation information, the driver's accelerator operation and the driver's brake operation are transmitted separately. And

  The present invention shows the contents of acceleration operation information. In this manner, the control value for the actuator can be easily calculated by distinguishing the acceleration operation information from the accelerator operation and the brake operation information.

(4) The invention of claim 4 is characterized in that the control command section and the acceleration / deceleration control section are interfaced with vehicle acceleration information.
In the present invention, as described later, for example, requested acceleration (target acceleration) can be transmitted from the control command unit to the acceleration / deceleration control unit as vehicle acceleration information.

(5) The invention of claim 5 is characterized in that a requested acceleration is transmitted from the control command unit to the acceleration / deceleration control unit.
The present invention exemplifies information transmitted from the control command unit to the acceleration / deceleration control unit.

(6) The invention according to claim 6 is characterized in that the control command section includes a plurality of driving support applications, and adjusts the required acceleration between the driving support applications.
When the control command unit handles a plurality of driving support applications, the required acceleration may be calculated according to each application. In such a case, adjustment of each requested acceleration is performed as necessary, for example, by determining which requested acceleration is output. This makes it possible to output the most desirable required acceleration under the present circumstances.

Next, the best mode (embodiment) of the present invention will be described.
[Embodiment]
a) First, the system configuration of the vehicle control apparatus of this embodiment will be described.

  The vehicle control apparatus according to the present embodiment has, for example, an inter-vehicle distance control (adaptive cruise control: ACC) for controlling the inter-vehicle distance to be kept at a predetermined interval during automatic traveling, or when there is a risk of colliding with an obstacle ahead. Is a system capable of pre-crash safety control (PCS control) for performing appropriate braking control. Note that brake assist control (BA control), which is control for increasing the braking force by the driver, is also performed in the PCS control.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the vehicle control device of the present embodiment includes a driving support control electronic control device (hereinafter referred to as “driving support ECU”) 1 and an acceleration / deceleration control electronic control device (hereinafter referred to as “acceleration / deceleration ECU”). 3), an engine electronic control unit (hereinafter referred to as “engine ECU”) 5, a brake electronic control unit (hereinafter referred to as “brake ECU”) 7, and a meter electronic control unit (hereinafter referred to as “meter ECU”). 9) and the like are connected to each other via a LAN communication bus, for example.

  Each of the ECUs 1 to 9 is configured around a known microcomputer and includes a bus controller (not shown) for performing communication via a LAN communication bus. In this embodiment, data communication between ECUs performed via a LAN communication bus can use a CAN bus generally used in an in-vehicle network.

  Among these, the driving support control ECU 1 is a device that functions as a control command unit, and stores a plurality of applications that perform driving support such as ACC, PCS control, and BA control, and includes a radar sensor 11, an alarm buzzer 13, The cruise control switch 15 and the target inter-vehicle setting switch 17 are connected.

  The radar sensor 11 is configured as a “laser radar sensor”, and is an electronic circuit mainly configured by a laser scanning distance meter and a microcomputer.

  In this radar sensor 11, the scanning rangefinder scans and irradiates laser light within a predetermined angle range in the vehicle width direction, and detects the target vehicle angle and distance detected based on the reflected light and the current vehicle speed (from the driving assistance ECU 1 ( Vn), the lane probability indicating the probability that the target exists on the own lane, attribute information indicating the target attribute, and the like are obtained based on the estimated value (estimated R) of the radius of curvature of the curve. In addition, the own lane probability and attribute information are transmitted to the driving support ECU 1 as preceding vehicle information including information such as distance and relative speed. Further, the diagnosis signal of the radar sensor 11 itself is also transmitted to the driving support ECU 1.

  In the ACC, the cruise control switch 15 transmits a set signal for starting cruise control, a cancel signal for ending, an accelerator signal for increasing the set vehicle speed, a coast signal for decreasing the set vehicle speed, and the like. .

  The target inter-vehicle setting switch 17 is a switch for the driver to set the time required for the host vehicle to travel a distance corresponding to the target inter-vehicle distance between the preceding vehicle and the host vehicle (“target inter-vehicle time”) in ACC. The target inter-vehicle time is transmitted to the driving support ECU 1.

The inter-vehicle control ECU 1 determines whether an alarm is generated, and makes the alarm buzzer 13 sound when it is necessary to generate an alarm.
The meter ECU 9 receives information on the vehicle speed, engine speed, door open / close state, shift range of the transmission, and the like via a LAN communication bus, and displays these vehicle states on a meter display (not shown). To do. Further, a vehicle distance control flag, a collision avoidance warning, a diagnosis signal, and the like are received from the driving assistance ECU 1 and these information is displayed on a head-up display (not shown).

The engine ECU 5 is connected to an accelerator pedal opening sensor 211 that detects an accelerator pedal opening, an electronic throttle 23 that electrically drives a throttle, and the like.
The engine ECU 5 receives the target torque from the acceleration / deceleration ECU 3 and inputs the accelerator pedal opening from the accelerator pedal opening sensor 21. Further, the engine control state is transmitted to the acceleration / deceleration ECU 3 and a throttle opening command value is output to the electronic throttle 23. In other words, the engine ECU 5 calculates the required throttle opening in accordance with the accelerator opening and the target torque, and outputs the command value to the electronic throttle 23 to control the engine state.

  The brake ECU 7 includes a yaw rate sensor 25 that detects a yaw rate indicating a vehicle turning state, a vehicle speed sensor 27 that detects a vehicle speed, and a brake pedal depression force sensor (M / C pressure sensor) that detects a depression state of a brake pedal from a master cylinder pressure. 29, connected to a brake actuator 31 for controlling the wheel cylinder pressure (W / C pressure) of the brake hydraulic circuit in order to control the brake force.

  The brake ECU 7 receives a target torque and a brake request (that is, a flag for requesting deceleration using the brake) from the acceleration / deceleration ECU 3, and outputs the yaw rate from the yaw rate sensor 25, the current vehicle speed from the vehicle speed sensor 27, and the M / M / C pressure is input from the C pressure sensor 29, respectively. In addition, the control state of the brake is transmitted to the acceleration / deceleration ECU 3, and a W / C pressure command value is output to the brake ACT31. In other words, the brake ECU 5 calculates the necessary W / C pressure according to the yaw rate, the current vehicle speed, the M / C pressure, the target torque, and the brake request, and outputs the command value to the brake ACT 31 to control the brake state. To do.

The acceleration / deceleration ECU 3 is a device that functions as an acceleration / deceleration control unit, and stores an application for performing longitudinal control (VLC).
As shown in FIG. 2, the acceleration / deceleration ECU 3 receives the requested acceleration (target acceleration), the acceleration change rate (Max Jerk, MIN Jerk), and the execution request flag from the driving support ECU 1. A driver operation acceleration (accelerator), a driver operation acceleration (brake), an accelerator override flag, and a brake override flag are transmitted.

  The acceleration / deceleration ECU 3 receives the engine and brake control states, the current vehicle speed, and the yaw rate from the engine ECU 5 and the brake ECU 7, transmits the target torque to the engine ECU 5, and transmits the target torque and the brake request to the brake ECU 7. .

  In this embodiment, the engine ECU 5 receives the target torque, calculates and outputs a throttle opening command value for driving the electronic throttle 23, and the brake ECU 7 receives the target torque and the brake request, Since the W / C pressure command value for driving the brake ACT 31 is output, the functions of the acceleration / deceleration ECU 3 may be included in the engine ECU 5, the brake ECU 7, and the driving assistance ECU 1, although they are different from the functions of the acceleration / deceleration ECU 3.

Here, the data transmitted and received between the acceleration / deceleration ECU 3 and the driving support ECU 7 will be described in more detail.
The target acceleration is calculated as the acceleration required for control by the driving support application for ACC or PCS control. Note that the target acceleration may be calculated for each application. In this case, the necessary target acceleration is selected by adjusting between applications according to necessity (urgentness).

  As shown in FIG. 3, the acceleration Jerk indicates the rate of change when the acceleration is actually controlled. MAX indicates the maximum value and MIN indicates the minimum value. .

The execution request flag is a flag instructing execution of control based on the transmitted target acceleration.
The driver operation acceleration is the acceleration generated by the driver operating the accelerator or brake. When the acceleration increases with the accelerator, it is expressed as (+), and when the acceleration decreases with the brake, it is expressed as (-). expressed. This driver operation acceleration is used to realize a brake assist function and an alarm brake function (that is, weak braking for notifying the driver that it is necessary to apply the brake) in PCS control, or to grasp the operation state of the driver. It is used for etc.

The accelerator override flag is used by the driving assistance ECU 7 to grasp which of the driver's accelerator pedal operation and the target acceleration is adopted.
The brake override flag is used by the driving assistance ECU 7 to grasp which one of the driver's brake pedal operation and the target acceleration is adopted. (This brake override flag can be omitted.)
As shown in FIG. 4, the PCS control is an alarm, brake assist (BA control), pre-braking at an appropriate timing by TTC = 0 when there is a possibility of collision with a front obstacle. (Weak braking) and intervention braking (strong braking).

b) Next, the operation and the like of the vehicle control device of this embodiment will be described.
In the present embodiment, the driving support ECU 1 stores a plurality of driving support applications.

Then, a driver operation acceleration (accelerator, brake) and each override flag are transmitted from the acceleration / deceleration ECU 3 to the driving support ECU 1.
The driving assistance ECU 1 calculates a target acceleration or the like as a control command value in each application based on the information such as the driver operation acceleration received from the acceleration / deceleration ECU 3, and executes this target acceleration, MAX Jerk, Min Jerk, A request flag or the like is transmitted to the acceleration / deceleration ECU 3.

  In the acceleration / deceleration ECU 3, in addition to the target acceleration transmitted from the driving support ECU 1, information such as the current vehicle speed, yaw rate, engine and brake control state, etc. transmitted from the engine ECU 5 and brake ECU 7 are used. Based on the specifications, a target torque, a brake request, and the like necessary for driving each actuator are calculated and transmitted to the engine ECU 5 and the brake ECU 7.

  The engine ECU 5 and the brake ECU 7 output a throttle opening command value, a W / C command value, etc. to each actuator in order to actually drive each actuator (electronic throttle 23, brake ACT31).

Hereinafter, the specific procedure will be described in detail based on the flowchart.
Here, BA control in PCS control will be described as an example.
(1) Processing in Acceleration / Deceleration ECU 3 In step (S) 100 in FIG. 5, information such as an accelerator pedal opening flag and an accelerator pedal opening is received from the engine ECU 5. Further, the brake ECU 7 receives information such as a brake pedal opening flag, M / C pressure, current vehicle speed, and yaw rate.

  In the following step 110, the driver operation acceleration (accelerator, brake), accelerator override flag, and brake override flag are transmitted to the driving support ECU 1.

  The driver operation acceleration related to the accelerator can be obtained from the required drive torque map corresponding to the engine type from the accelerator pedal opening and the vehicle speed, and the driver operation acceleration related to the brake can be obtained from the map corresponding to the actuator characteristic from the M / C pressure. Can be sought.

(2) Processing in Driving Assist ECU 1 In step 200 of FIG. 6, driver operation acceleration (accelerator, brake), accelerator override flag, and brake override flag are received from the acceleration / deceleration ECU 3.

In the subsequent step 210, an object selection process is performed. This object selection process is a process of selecting which object is to be subjected to PCS control, for example.
In the subsequent step 220, dangerous substance determination processing is performed. This dangerous object determination process is a process of determining an object that is at risk of collision from, for example, the distance between the vehicle and the vehicle speed with respect to a selected object (for example, a vehicle).

  In the next step 230, it is determined whether or not the driver operation acceleration related to the brake (received from the acceleration / deceleration ECU 3) is smaller than a predetermined determination value α, that is, whether or not the brake is insufficient.

  If the brake is not sufficient, the brake assist control is necessary. Therefore, the process proceeds to step 240 and the execution request flag for the brake assist control is turned on. Further, a value obtained by multiplying the driver operation acceleration by a predetermined value β is set as the target acceleration.

  On the other hand, if the brake is sufficient, there is no need for brake assist control, so the routine proceeds to step 250 where the execution request flag for brake assist control is turned off (OFF) and the target acceleration is set to zero.

In step 260, the execution request flag and the target acceleration are transmitted to the acceleration / deceleration ECU 3, and Max Jerk and Min Jerk are also transmitted, and the process is temporarily terminated.
(3) Processing in Acceleration / Deceleration ECU 3 In step 300 in FIG. 7, an execution request flag, target acceleration, Max Jerk, and Min Jerk are received from the driving support ECU 3.

  In subsequent step 310, in addition to the received execution request flag, target acceleration, Max Jerk, Min Jerk, a target torque and a brake request are calculated based on various data indicating vehicle specifications and the current vehicle running and operating state. To do.

In the following step 320, it is determined whether or not there is an execution request flag, that is, whether or not the execution request flag is on.
When the execution request flag is on, the target torque is transmitted to the engine ECU 5 and the brake ECU 7, and the brake request is transmitted to the brake ECU 7, and this process is temporarily terminated.

  d) As described above, in the vehicle control apparatus of the present embodiment, the driving support ECU 1 performs processing by the driving support application such as PCS based on the acceleration operation information (driver operation acceleration, etc.) transmitted from the acceleration / deceleration ECU 3. The acceleration / deceleration ECU 3 that has received the target acceleration and the like outputs the target torque and the command value for the brake request in consideration of the vehicle specifications and the like.

  Therefore, even when there are a plurality of driving support applications, the acceleration / deceleration ECU 3 side can collectively calculate the target torque and the command value of the brake request based on the vehicle specifications according to the target acceleration. There is an advantage of excellent versatility.

  As mentioned above, although embodiment of this invention was described, this invention is not limited to this embodiment, A various aspect can be taken.

It is a block diagram which shows the system configuration | structure of the vehicle control apparatus of embodiment. It is explanatory drawing which shows the data transmitted / received between driving assistance ECU and acceleration / deceleration ECU. It is a graph which shows Jerk of acceleration. It is a timing chart which shows the procedure of PCS control. It is a flowchart which shows the process in acceleration / deceleration ECU. It is a flowchart which shows the process in driving assistance ECU. It is a flowchart which shows the process in acceleration / deceleration ECU.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Driving assistance ECU, 3 ... Acceleration / deceleration ECU, 5 ... Engine ECU, 7 ... Brake ECU, 9 ... Meter ECU, 11 ... Radar sensor, 13 ... Alarm buzzer, 15 ... Cruise control switch, 17 ... Target inter-vehicle setting switch, DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 21 ... Accelerator pedal opening sensor, 23 ... Electronic throttle, 25 ... Yaw rate sensor, 27 ... Vehicle speed sensor, 29 ... M / C pressure sensor, 31 ... Brake actuator

Claims (6)

A control command unit that calculates the acceleration / deceleration behavior of the host vehicle as a command value in the traveling environment of the vehicle,
Based on the command value from the control command value, the acceleration / deceleration control unit that performs processing for controlling the vehicle using the acceleration / deceleration actuator in consideration of the characteristics unique to the vehicle;
With
The acceleration / deceleration control unit transmits acceleration operation information generated by a driver's operation to the control command unit.   2. The vehicle control according to claim 1, wherein the acceleration / deceleration control unit determines whether the acceleration operation information can be transmitted, and transmits the acceleration operation information to the control command unit according to the determination result. apparatus.   3. The transmission according to claim 1, wherein when transmitting the driver's acceleration operation information, the driver's acceleration operation and the driver's brake operation are transmitted separately. Vehicle control device.   The vehicle control device according to claim 1, wherein the control command unit and the acceleration / deceleration control unit are interfaced with vehicle acceleration information.   The vehicle control device according to claim 4, wherein the requested acceleration is transmitted from the control command unit to the acceleration / deceleration control unit.   The vehicle control device according to claim 5, wherein the control command unit includes a plurality of driving support applications, and adjusts the requested acceleration between the driving support applications.

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